Our Guiding Principles

Divorce is a traumatic event in anyone’s life. You are in emotional turmoil. You do not know what your future will bring. You may be concerned about the impact of the divorce upon your children, your finances, and your future. You often don’t know where to turn and you certainly don’t know how to act in a manner that will help you create the future that you need and deserve.

In divorce cases, just as in any other type of litigation, a client is heavily dependent upon their attorney. They need their attorney to assist and guide them through the maze of legal intricacies, potential pitfalls and traps set by the opposing attorney or their spouse, and to assist them to obtain the therapeutic assistance, if necessary, to assist them to appropriately process this emotionally disorienting event.

Charles D. Jamieson has been a divorce attorney for over 33 years. He has been a partner in a firm, has led a family law division in a firm, and now leads his own family law practice. He also has been divorced. Consequently, Charles D. Jamieson has created the following set of principles which dramatically creates a difference between how he meets the needs of his clients than most other family law firms.

Explore Principles

Communication

The most common complaint people make about their lawyers (in any case: criminal, personal injury, medical malpractice, traffic tickets, traffic court, and divorce) is that I can never get a hold of my attorney, the attorney does not return my phone calls, I can’t get an appointment, or I don’t know what’s going on in my case. As a client of The Law Firm of Charles D. Jamieson, P.A. you are assigned a team to represent you in your case. That team consists of an attorney and a paralegal. If you telephone our office, then either the attorney and/or the paralegal assigned to your case will immediately pick up the phone and speak with you, if they’re available. If they are not available to speak to you immediately, your call will be triaged and a representative from our office will call you back as soon as possible.

Office appointments are scheduled as needed. Charles D. Jamieson makes himself available in the evenings and on weekends, if necessary, to meet the needs of his clients who work during the day and to meet the needs of clients who are involved in emergency situations.

Email has become the commonplace communication tool in our society. During the course of the day, if a question comes up that does not require an immediate answer, our clients are urged to communicate their information, concerns, or questions via email. Emails are quickly reviewed and responses to emails occur throughout the day.

Email communication serves a second purpose. The Law Firm of Charles D. Jamieson, P.A. has a case management software program. This means that all documents in your case are scanned to a computer file. Consequently, as documents regarding your case are scanned, they are immediately emailed to the members of your legal team and to you. Therefore, you obtain a full copy of your file via email (without the expense of postage or the delay of regular mail).

As a result, our clients always know what’s going on in their cases. Therefore, our clients are satisfied with the communication that occurs between them and members of their legal team. Additionally, our clients know exactly what’s happening in their cases and acquire a complete file of every document generated in their case as it occurs.

Education

Educated people make educated decisions. Consequently, at our firm, clients are immediately provided the tools necessary to educate themselves regarding the issues involved in their case. Clients are provided with copies of statutes and cases that pertain to the legal issues with which they’re dealing. Throughout their case, clients are provided with references to books, articles and websites which will assist them in educating themselves about the legal issues in their case and assist them with questions regarding non-legal issues involving parenting during divorce, co-parenting with cooperative and uncooperative spouses, how to inform their children about the break-up or divorce between their parents, and other issues concerning individuals who are going through a divorce.

Prioritization

How many times have you heard a person who’s gone through a divorce state ironically “I don’t know if I won or lost?” That statement is usually from a person who did not prioritize the goals for their divorce. Clients at The Law Firm of Charles D. Jamieson, P.A. are required to prioritize their goals in terms of a schedule of one through ten. Doing so has two benefits for the clients:

It assists the client’s legal team to focus their energy (and the client’s money) on the issues that are most important to the client; and

It provides the client a scorecard as to how well the client is doing at any given time.

We understand that priorities may change during the course of the divorce. It is not uncommon for clients, as they process the divorce emotionally, to change the importance or the order of their goals and priorities. As long as the client keeps us informed, then their legal team can adjust their efforts accordingly.

Prioritization is important in terms of negotiating results in the divorce case and in terms of devoting resources during litigation. It also is very helpful to the client in determining whether they acquired the goals that they think are most important.

Involvement

People often feel somewhat lost during their divorce case. They’re involved in a strange process dealing with arcane legal rules and procedures, case law, and statutes. They feel emotionally adrift and they are often riding an emotional rollercoaster. People who take ownership and become involved appropriately in their divorce case can minimize the emotional and psychological detrimental effects of a divorce case. At our law firm, we often urge clients to help us accumulate financial information, data regarding the history of their relationship and break-up. Doing so will reduce the amount in effort and time for attorneys and paralegals to obtain this information, will reduce the client’s costs, and helps the client feel more secure in their case.

Results

As a result of communication, education, prioritization and involvement (assisting clients in taking ownership of their cases), clients of The Law Firm of Charles Jamieson, P.A. minimize their emotional upheaval, provide themselves a sense of purpose, direction, and finality in terms of negotiating their divorce case.